H I S T O R Y O F E U R O P E. [213 



near the rocks of St. Croix. Some 

 French ships having escaped to 

 Quimper River, boats were sent, 

 on the twenty-third of June, 

 to attack them ; but they removed 

 to an inaccessible distance up the 

 river. However, two parties of 

 marines disembarked, and blew up 

 a battery and otlier fortifications. — 

 Lieutenant Burke was afterwards 

 sent to Bour-noeuf-bay, to attack 

 some vessels of war that were moor- 

 ed in a strong position. Five were 

 capturedjbesidessometrading ships j 

 but the impracticability of bringing 

 them out, induced the captors to 

 burn them. It unfortunately hap- 

 pened, that our gun-boats, in re- 

 turning, struck upon sand-banks, 

 and above ninety men were made 

 prisoners. 



About this time,sirCharIcsHamil- 

 ton, making his appearance, with a 

 small squadron, near Goree, an isle 

 on the coast of Afrie*, the governor 

 thought proper to surrender; and 

 a British garrison took immediate 

 possession of the forts, and of Joul, 

 a dependent factory. 



On the eighth of July, an at- 

 tempt was made to take or destroy 

 four frigates, in the road of Dunkirk. 

 Captain Campbell, of the Dart, took 

 the La Desiree ; but the other ships, 

 in number three, escaped, though 

 not without considerable damage. 

 In August, a fleet, under the com- 

 mand of sir John Borlase Warren, 

 with a military force, under the 

 ordersofsirJamesMurrayPulteney, 

 set sail on a secret expedition. One 

 object of this was tlie conquest of 

 Belle-Isle, butthe strongworks that 

 had been provided for the defence 

 of that island discouraged the at- 

 tempt. The armament therefore 

 proceeded to the coast of Spain, 

 and,on the twcnty-iifth of Autrust, 



arrived before the harbour of Fer- 

 rol. The troops landed without op- 

 position, and advanced towards the 

 heights which overlook the port. 

 A skirmish with a body of Spaniards 

 ensued, which terminated in favour 

 of the invaders. Lieutenant-co- 

 lonel Stewart, who commanded the 

 British, was wounded. The next 

 morning another engagement en- 

 sued, in which also the Spaniards 

 were defeated. About one hun- 

 dred of the Spaniards were killed 

 or wounded. The loss of the Eng- 

 lish, who were now in possession of 

 the commanding eminences, did not 

 exceed half that number. The op- 

 portunity of survey, afforded by the 

 heights,didnotgivetheBritish com- 

 mander any hope of success, parti- 

 cularly when he learned, from the 

 report of the prisoners, that the 

 place was furnished with the means 

 of defence. He therefore ordered 

 the troops to re-embark, and they 

 were not molested in their retreat. 

 It was confidently affirmed, by a 

 noble lord, in the British house of 

 peers, that, at the very time when 

 the British army received orders to 

 re-embark, the proper officer was 

 coming with the keys of the town 

 to surrender ; but, of the evidence 

 on which this was affirmed, we are 

 altogether ignorant. After this, sir 

 Ralph Abercromby moved towards 

 Leghorn, but, at the earnest en- 

 treaty of the Tuscan government, 

 who dreaded a visit, in case of his 

 coming on shore,from the French, he 

 moved oftjtoreconnoitreMalta: whi- 

 ther we shall presently follow him. 

 In consequence of a notification 

 from baron Thugut, on the nuith 

 of August, that lord Minto, the 

 Britisli ambassador at the court of 

 Vienna, had signified the desire of 

 his Britannic majesty, lobe included 



